New York state briefs

BRIGHTON — The Monroe Community College Board of Trustees could decide tonight who it wants to be the next president of the college. The board has a meeting scheduled for 5 p.m.

Interviews in the search to replace current President R. Thomas Flynn concluded on April 25, when Rochester-area businessman Dennis Kessler visited campus. Flynn is retiring at the end of the year. Earlier in the week, former Monroe County Legislator Bill Smith met with campus officials. The other finalist, Broome Community College President Laurence Spraggs, visited campus April 7 and 8.

Kenneth Ender, the president of Cumberland County College in Vineland, N.J., withdrew his name from consideration after being named a finalist and coming to the campus for interviews April 9 and 10.

Any choice by MCC must get the OK from the SUNY Board of Trustees.

Barrett Paving Materials wins recycling award

LITCHFIELD – A local construction material production and paving company has earned an award from the Oneida-Herkimer Solid Waste Authority for its recycling efforts during 2007.

Barrett Paving Materials Inc. in the town of Litchfield was honored with the Recycling Award for Excellence by the authority for its endeavors, which included utilizing over 37,000 tons of recycled asphalt material and recovering nearly 25,000 tons of waste stone material from quarry settling ponds that was reused as a resellable product and for quarry reclamation.

“For us, the award is fantastic,” said the company’s New York East Regional Manager Scot Owens. “We’re the only one in this area in the highway construction industry that is pursuing (recycling), it’s nice to be recognized.”

He said four years ago, the company incorporated a new policy in which each division of Barrett that increases its volume of recycling operations from the previous year.

As examples, the company as integrated new procedures through crushed stone at quarries, with hot mix asphalt and construction operations.

He said the company spent around $500,000 at the Litchfield plant to implement new crushing and screening equipment, which helped produce recycled asphalt product the company uses every day.

The company has worked with the New York Department of Transportation to promote the use of recycled asphalt in road projects in Herkimer and Oneida Counties.

Barrett is primarily a construction materials production company which creates crushed stone and hot mix asphalt and also is a paving contractor added Owens.

Strength through ... strength

WEBSTER — Sometimes, it takes the most unlikely circumstance to jump-start a lifelong dream.

At least, that was the case for Laurie Miraglia, who got cranking on her dream after her mother died last fall. Miraglia initially wanted an outlet to take her mind off her recent loss.

Miraglia’s mom, Angela Marcello, died Oct. 15 at the age of 65 after she was diagnosed with multiple brain tumors.

Two weeks before her mother’s death, Miraglia’s grandfather — Marcello’s father — died. Then, in a twisted turn of events, Miraglia’s great aunt — her mother’s aunt died last month — in the same hospital room as Marcello.

After her mom died, Miraglia needed to take her mind off sadness and grief.

Then she had an idea — she would work to build her muscles so she could compete in the International Northern States Super Natural Bodybuilding Fitness and Figure Championship in Buffalo.

“I’ve never done it. I’ve always wanted to,” Miraglia said. “Between having kids and what have you, I just put it off.”

In that competition, Miraglia won two first place awards and also won in the overall category, so she could receive her pro card. The card allows her to compete at the professional level so she can make money at the shows.

It was her mother’s death that really drove her to fulfill that dream.

“When she died, I thought, you know what, I have to push myself,” Miraglia said. “It was a great stress-reliever.”

Committees to consider bumping up smoking age

OSWEGO – Oswego County Legislator Lee Walker Jr., D-Oswego, made two proposals last month to legislative committees that would alter the regulations on smoking, not only at county facilities, but also across the entire region.

This week, his crusade for cleaner air and cleaner lungs in Oswego County takes another step forward.

Walker first went to the Strategic Planning and Government Committee last month with the idea to raise the legal age in Oswego County for the purchase of cigarettes from 18 to 19 years old. In addition, he asked that the current smoking policy, which keeps smokers 20 feet away from any entrance to a building that houses child services, be altered to cover all county buildings. The committee will vote on the matter today.

As for the possibility of raising the smoking age in Oswego County, Walker said that he has received nothing but positive feedback since pitching the idea — which is on Wednesday’s agenda for the meeting of the Health and Human Services Committee.

Walker has received letters and words of support for the idea from nearly every school district across the county, including Oswego, Fulton, Hannibal, Phoenix, Mexico, Pulaski, Sandy Creek and APW among others. He has also garnered support from several anti-tobacco agencies, including the American Cancer Society and Tobacco Now.

County Administrator Phil Church noted that while the policy on smoking at county facilities can be voted upon at Monday’s committee meeting, the age hike for smokers would need to be visited at a public hearing, as it would entail the development of a new local law. Thus, the smoking age issue is only slated for discussion at Wednesday’s meeting.

Kids will Sing Out

EAST ROCHESTER — Fun. That’s what producers of the 19th annual Sing Out are promising to deliver.

The music and dance extravaganza, interspersed with comedy routines, will be presented at 8 p.m. Friday, May 2, and Saturday, May 3, at the East Rochester High School auditorium, 200 Woodbine Ave.

The troupe consists of professional artists, adult volunteers and some 50 students from eight eastern Monroe County high schools, including East Rochester, Fairport, Pittsford Sutherland and Mendon, Penfield, Webster Thomas and Schroeder and Eastridge.

The program will open with a rendition of Alice Cooper’s “School’s Out” and include The Beatles’ “Let it Be,” “Summer Nights” from “Grease,” “Mustang Sally” and “Surfin’ USA.”

Producer Lisa Romach was in the original Sing Out in the 1960s, which had a six-year run. She and Casey Filiaci, another original member, revived it in 1990 in remembrance of another cast member who had died.
“I think the kids keep me involved,” Romach said. “We watch them accomplish things that they normally wouldn’t do.”

Sing Out is open to all students in Monroe County. Auditions are held in December to determine placement, but no one is rejected.